


connecting

by spacebubble



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Ficlet, Kissing, M/M, Making Out, Possessive Behavior, an irresponsible amount of unfinished business, post-solid Odo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25839625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebubble/pseuds/spacebubble
Summary: Odo doesn't know when to leave well enough alone, and Quark doesn't really want to be left alone, anyway.
Relationships: Brunt/Quark (Star Trek), Odo/Quark (Star Trek)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 50





	connecting

**Author's Note:**

> sort of a totally self-indulgent sequel to [hedged bets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25376128) by synthehol_king :3c or loosely set late in season 6.
> 
>  **cw:** qrunt is still unhealthy! but the angst potential remains significant...

The door slides shut and Quark walks back inside.

He's too warm. He's trembling and he's too warm. His jacket's off and he's too warm and he's still trembling from the anger and tension of talking with Odo, of telling him off, of still not saying everything he wanted to say, because words would never be enough, and -

( _he_ would never be enough)

\- he feels even more tired than he did just a few minutes ago, too tired to pretend he doesn't care about what just happened, or that he's not still listening for the sounds of Odo's footsteps walking away.

( _Always walking away...)_

Before he can concentrate on listening, Brunt walks out to meet him, coat folded neatly over his arm.

"Where do I hang this?" Brunt asks chipperly, and Quark can't tell if he's overcompensating to make him feel better somehow, by pretending Odo's interruption didn't even matter... or, if he's just being Brunt.

"Um." Quark stares at him blankly, trying to remember where.

"...I couldn't find your guest closet," Brunt prompts.

"You know this used to be an ore processing facility, right?" Quark can't help the teasing smile that comes to his lips. "Cardassian architects aren't known for caring about clothing storage, Brunt."

Brunt wrinkles his nose. It's almost cute. "How... utilitarian."

"Yeah." Quark sidles up to him, feeling weirdly affectionate all of a sudden. "Sorry. You can hang it up in my regular, ordinary, non-guest closet tonight."

A faint flush colors Brunt's lobes. "You'd let me?" Then, catching himself, he quickly shifts into his habitual condescending bravado. "I mean - of course you'd only have - that is to say, I didn't want to _presume,_ since we -" He stops himself, then starts again. "Since your quarters are so... _compact._ "

"Uh-huh," Quark replies, nonplussed, even amused at Brunt's fumbling for words.

And it makes him think:

Before, he was considering making a nightcap. Nothing terribly strong. Just something to take the edge off, to give him the last hit of courage he needed to go through with...

Things.

He looks at Brunt looking back at him outside his bedroom, coat in hand, still so hesitant about _presuming_.

He really can't remember the last time anyone's hung up their coat in his closet.

So he sidles up to Brunt, who doesn't budge, and isn't walking away -

( _not that he's thinking about anyone walking away_ )

And he leans up and gives him a kiss.

Just a small one. Barely even pressing their lips together.

Brunt makes a quietly startled noise, then kisses him back immediately, eagerly. He wraps an arm around Quark's waist and pulls him closer before he can pull away, fisting the fabric of Quark's vest, almost rubbing the silk between his fingers.

Quark sighs into the deepened kiss, rubbing up against Brunt's chest, his front. The ornamentation of Brunt's clothes digs into him as their bodies press together.

It's nice, feeling wanted.

* * *

When Quark finally does pull away, he can't help feeling smug at the sight of Brunt leaning forward, chasing after his absent mouth.

"Hey," Quark says, barely keeping the amusement out of his voice. He dodges Brunt's attempt at another kiss, chuckling as Brunt's nose bumps into his cheek.

Frowning slightly, Brunt pulls back and opens his eyes. "Hm?"

"Go hang up your coat first."

Brunt glances down at the coat in his hand, like he's forgotten it was there. "Oh. Right."

"In my closet," Quark adds, almost purring, just to see Brunt blush again.

It works.

He likes how easily it works.

Quark grins. He nudges Brunt's chest with his shoulder. "C'mon."

* * *

They're making out on his bed again, and Brunt's in the middle of sliding down the closure on Quark's vest, when the door chimes.

They freeze.

All Quark can hear is the sound of their breathing. He strains to hear anything else.

The door chimes again.

And Odo's voice, muffled through the door, quietly says, "Quark. We need to talk."

Quark looks towards the door, then back up at Brunt, who's staring down at him with an unreadable expression.

He starts sitting up, but Brunt gently pushes him back down onto the bed.

Quark swallows hard.

"Don't trouble yourself," Brunt offers. His eyes never leave Quark's.

Quark bites his lip. "I don't think he's going away."

"I can go answer the door again."

Quark shakes his head. "No. It's okay." And he finds that he's already rolling out of the bed. "I'll deal with him."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

He looks back at Brunt, who's kneeling on the bed with his vest open, looking far more vulnerable than he did with his usual full regalia.

And even though he thinks Brunt already knows the answer, he might as well say it.

Quark smiles. Apologetically.

"Don't worry about it," he replies.

* * *

And just as he expected, Odo's waiting for him outside the door, looking the way he always looks:

Grumpy. Stern. Judgmental.

As if he hadn't had enough judgment for one evening.

"What?" Quark asks, stepping out into the corridor, letting the door slide shut behind him. "What more could you _possibly_ have to say to me, Odo -"

And then Odo kisses him.

* * *

It's a rough, dry kiss, one that knocks Quark back against the wall by his door.

He whimpers in pain and Odo makes an apologetic sort of noise but doesn't stop kissing him and doesn't stop holding him against the wall, his hands like vises around Quark's upper arms, holding him in place, as if trying to impress upon Quark the significance of everything through just kissing alone.

"You're not going to change my mind," Quark gasps out in between kisses, Odo nuzzling his nose, angling for the next kiss already before Quark can barely finish his sentence.

"I'm not trying to," Odo tells him, ducking down to capture his lips again, roughly pinning him back against the wall again, his shoulder digging into Quark's shoulder, his chest a pressure on Quark's chest, one hand curled around the nape of Quark's neck, almost cradling his head against the wall and tilting it up at the same time.

"Then what are you doing?" Quark whines, even as he lets himself be kissed, even as Odo's hand slips in between his vest and his shirt, resting without pulling.

"Should be obvious." Odo presses his lips to Quark's, even as he speaks. "I'm kissing you, you idiot."

Quark fists his hands in Odo's uniform, whimpering at the sensation of Odo's foot gently nudging against the inside of his foot, pushing his legs open as he's backed up against the wall.

His whimpers are muffled as Odo covers his mouth with kiss after kiss after kiss, in a barely indistinguishable series of kisses.

When he can finally break away, Quark murmurs, "I'm still going back inside."

In response, Odo's foot pushes harder against the inside of his foot and Quark's heart pounds. He can feel Odo's knee against his leg, almost at his thigh.

And then Odo's other hand is on his waist, holding him still, and Quark almost flinches, feeling ticklish at the weight of it, so Odo draws him closer for another kiss, bodies flush against one another in the corridor, and Quark makes a defeated noise into Odo's mouth, a tiny whimpery sound that Odo absorbs into himself, almost devours.

"Odo," Quark protests, "you can't -"

Odo cuts him off with a wordless growl, then gently rests his forehead against Quark's, nose to nose, and goes still, and if he were still a solid, he might have trembled with the heaviness of his breathing, but he isn't, and he doesn't, and he just stays still as Quark's chest heaves, shoulders rising and falling with his breathing, and maybe Odo recognizes Quark's need to breathe, or maybe he's just waiting to see what Quark does next, because he remains still and quiet until Quark's breathing calms down.

And then he breaks away.

Quark whines. He was starting to get used to all the kissing, and he thought there'd be more. Maybe he should -

"I'm sorry," Odo says gruffly, but he doesn't say anything more, because Quark's already standing on his tiptoes to give him another kiss, and Odo obliges by leaning down to make it easier.

Quark flings his arms around Odo's neck and pulls him closer, or lets himself be lifted up, it's hard to tell.

Almost gentlemanly, Quark supposes.

He smiles into the kiss, but Odo pulls away.

Another disappointed whine.

"No, Quark, let me finish." Odo is firm, and firmly staying away from easy kissing distance.

Quark supposes he ought to humor him, so he waits, listening.

"I'm sorry for... everything."

"Hm." Quark takes a moment to consider the apology. It's not a terribly long moment. "Okay," he says brightly.

And he tries leaning up again.

Odo frowns. "You can't forgive me so easily."

"I'm not," Quark tells him, arms still flung tightly around Odo's neck, unwilling to let go. He tugs at the back of Odo's neck for good measure.

"You're not?" Odo asks, beginning to duck back down.

"I'm just appeasing you."

A small smile appears on Odo's face. "Appeasing _me?_ "

"Uh-huh." Quark swallows. "Since you're not leaving."

The smile fades into a more thoughtful expression as Odo stares into his eyes. Maybe even gazes at them.

"Right?" Quark prompts, quietly.

Then, just as quietly, Odo replies: "Right."

Elated, Quark leans back up, eager to resume, but Odo still hesitates, something clearly still on his mind.

"What about Brunt?" Odo asks, sounding oddly stilted.

"What about him?"

That small smile returns. "Are you just going to leave him in there?"

Quark shrugs. "He'll figure it out eventually."

A pang of guilt prickles at his conscience, briefly, at the memory of Brunt hanging up his coat.

But Brunt never had any illusions about what they were, right?

And Odo's already leaning back down to kiss him, and he's not leaving.

(Though they probably should leave the corridor at some point.)

And Quark supposes he should feel worse about it, but he doesn't.


End file.
